Lopé National Park

Infobox World Heritage Site
Name = Ecosystem and Relict Cultural Landscape of Lopé-Okanda


State_Party = flagicon|Gabon Gabon
Type = Mixed
Criteria = iii, iv, ix, x
ID = 1147
Link = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1147/
Region = Africa
Year = 2007
Session = 31st
Extension =
Danger = Infobox_protected_area | name = Lopé National Park
iucn_category = II


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location = Gabon
nearest_city =
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area = 4910 km²
established = 2002
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governing_body = Gabon National Parks

Lopé National Park is a national park in central Gabon. Although the terrain is mostly rain forest, in the north the park contains the last remnants of grass savannas created in Central Africa during the last Ice Age, 15,000 years ago. It was the first protected area in Gabon when the Lopé-Okanda Wildlife Reserve was created in 1946. In 2007, the Lopé-Okanda landscape was added to the World Heritage List by UNESCO.

The park contains a small research station, named as Mikongo and run by the Zoological Society London, based in the village known as Mikongo, from which it gets its name. There exists infrastructure to cater for tourists at the base, including several chalets and a large open air dining room, from which the rainforest is a mere five meters away. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/28/AR2007062800501.html AP via "Washington Post" "UNESCO Committee Renames Auschwitz" 28 June 2007] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.wcs.org/international/Africa/gabon/lope Wildlife Conservation Society]
* [http://gabonnationalparks.org/gnp-home/gnp-nationalparks/lope Gabon National Parks]